Cargando…

Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey

BACKGROUND: Different definitions of constipation have been used to estimate its prevalence in the community but this creates difficulties when comparing results from various studies. This study explores the impact of different definitions on prevalence estimates in the same population and compares...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Werth, Barry L., Williams, Kylie A., Fisher, Murray J., Pont, Lisa G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6528208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31113366
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12876-019-0994-0
_version_ 1783420165306712064
author Werth, Barry L.
Williams, Kylie A.
Fisher, Murray J.
Pont, Lisa G.
author_facet Werth, Barry L.
Williams, Kylie A.
Fisher, Murray J.
Pont, Lisa G.
author_sort Werth, Barry L.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Different definitions of constipation have been used to estimate its prevalence in the community but this creates difficulties when comparing results from various studies. This study explores the impact of different definitions on prevalence estimates in the same population and compares the performance of simple definitions with the Rome III criteria. METHODS: The prevalence of constipation in a large nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults was estimated using five simple definitions of constipation and compared with definitions based on the Rome III criteria. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values, were calculated for each definition using the Rome III criteria as the gold standards for chronic and sub-chronic constipation. RESULTS: Prevalence estimates for the five simple definitions ranged from 9.4 to 58.9%, while the prevalence estimates using the Rome III criteria were 24.0% (95%CI: 22.1, 25.9) for chronic constipation and 39.6% (95%CI: 37.5, 41.7) for sub-chronic constipation. None of the simple definitions were adequate compared to the Rome III criteria. Self-reported constipation over the past 12 months had the highest sensitivity (91.1%, 95%CI: 88.8, 93.4) and negative predictive value (94.5%, 95%CI: 93.1, 96.1) compared to the Rome III criteria for chronic constipation but an unacceptably low specificity (51.3%, 95%CI: 48.8, 53.8) and positive predictive value (37.1%, 95%CI: 34.4, 39.9). CONCLUSIONS: The definition used to identify constipation within a population has a considerable impact on the prevalence estimate obtained. Simple definitions, commonly used in research, performed poorly compared with the Rome III criteria. Studies estimating population prevalence of constipation should use definitions based on the Rome criteria where possible.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6528208
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-65282082019-05-28 Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey Werth, Barry L. Williams, Kylie A. Fisher, Murray J. Pont, Lisa G. BMC Gastroenterol Research Article BACKGROUND: Different definitions of constipation have been used to estimate its prevalence in the community but this creates difficulties when comparing results from various studies. This study explores the impact of different definitions on prevalence estimates in the same population and compares the performance of simple definitions with the Rome III criteria. METHODS: The prevalence of constipation in a large nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults was estimated using five simple definitions of constipation and compared with definitions based on the Rome III criteria. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values, were calculated for each definition using the Rome III criteria as the gold standards for chronic and sub-chronic constipation. RESULTS: Prevalence estimates for the five simple definitions ranged from 9.4 to 58.9%, while the prevalence estimates using the Rome III criteria were 24.0% (95%CI: 22.1, 25.9) for chronic constipation and 39.6% (95%CI: 37.5, 41.7) for sub-chronic constipation. None of the simple definitions were adequate compared to the Rome III criteria. Self-reported constipation over the past 12 months had the highest sensitivity (91.1%, 95%CI: 88.8, 93.4) and negative predictive value (94.5%, 95%CI: 93.1, 96.1) compared to the Rome III criteria for chronic constipation but an unacceptably low specificity (51.3%, 95%CI: 48.8, 53.8) and positive predictive value (37.1%, 95%CI: 34.4, 39.9). CONCLUSIONS: The definition used to identify constipation within a population has a considerable impact on the prevalence estimate obtained. Simple definitions, commonly used in research, performed poorly compared with the Rome III criteria. Studies estimating population prevalence of constipation should use definitions based on the Rome criteria where possible. BioMed Central 2019-05-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6528208/ /pubmed/31113366 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12876-019-0994-0 Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Werth, Barry L.
Williams, Kylie A.
Fisher, Murray J.
Pont, Lisa G.
Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title_full Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title_fullStr Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title_full_unstemmed Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title_short Defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
title_sort defining constipation to estimate its prevalence in the community: results from a national survey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6528208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31113366
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12876-019-0994-0
work_keys_str_mv AT werthbarryl definingconstipationtoestimateitsprevalenceinthecommunityresultsfromanationalsurvey
AT williamskyliea definingconstipationtoestimateitsprevalenceinthecommunityresultsfromanationalsurvey
AT fishermurrayj definingconstipationtoestimateitsprevalenceinthecommunityresultsfromanationalsurvey
AT pontlisag definingconstipationtoestimateitsprevalenceinthecommunityresultsfromanationalsurvey